JJensen 6 Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 I have a 2005 Sable LS Premium with 55,000 miles on it. Last December my car battery completely died and I was jump started. After the jump, i have had issues with my cluster. The first time the problem happened my gauges went down to zero and back up. Since then it has gotten worse. I now no longer have gauges 95% of the time. The Air Bag light is continuously on, blinker and cruse lights work, but the message center and all other lights are dead when the gauges don't work. When the gauges do work, the CEL comes on (was never on before, and when I scan i get no results, except for fuel level sensor.) Before the gauges come back they usually flicker up and down. With the fuel gauge only coming back until all other gauges are stable. All fuses are fine, the miles are still being counted on the ODO. I am really confused at what is going on, I have scoured the internet and found nothing. Does anyone have any reccomendations of what to look at? or know what is wrong? Thanks Quote Link to post Share on other sites
durasel 32 Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 Most of the problems with the electronic gauge clusters in the 2004-2007 models can be traced back to the battery. Are the connections clean along with the wiring? Wouldn't hurt to get the battery tested too.. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Angrod 280 Posted March 20, 2016 Report Share Posted March 20, 2016 Most of the problems with the electronic gauge clusters in the 2004-2007 models can be traced back to the battery. Are the connections clean along with the wiring? Wouldn't hurt to get the battery tested too.. ^This. I had issues with my car having electrical issues. Stereo would cut out, dash would light up like it was christmas, lights flickering. Turned out one cell in the battery was bad. Replaced the battery and the problems went away. I've found that keeping the battery terminals super clean helps a lot too. Also if the battery died it would be more prone to freezing (I see you said it died in December). Trying to jump a frozen, dead battery will kill it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JJensen 6 Posted March 23, 2016 Author Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 Most of the problems with the electronic gauge clusters in the 2004-2007 models can be traced back to the battery. Are the connections clean along with the wiring? Wouldn't hurt to get the battery tested too.. ^This. I had issues with my car having electrical issues. Stereo would cut out, dash would light up like it was christmas, lights flickering. Turned out one cell in the battery was bad. Replaced the battery and the problems went away. I've found that keeping the battery terminals super clean helps a lot too. Also if the battery died it would be more prone to freezing (I see you said it died in December). Trying to jump a frozen, dead battery will kill it. Swapped out the battery and cleaned up the terminals with no results. I forgot to clean up the other connection on the positive terminal (lead on top of connector) so i will do that tomorrow. This morning I had my gauged for a bit so i tried to go into the engineering test mode. just as i was about to run the gauge test it cut out again. Any other ideas of what it could be? I'm lead to believe it is a bad ground somewhere, but don't know where to start. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Angrod 280 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 Could be two things: 1. Bad wire or ground, 2. Low voltage. How's the alternator? I've had issues where the battery would be around 12.5 volts but the data center tells me it sees 11 volts (in ETM.) There's a chassis ground right on the fender between the battery and the air filter. Maybe it's loose or rusted? I believe there is also a grounding strap that runs between the engine block and the chassis although I'm not sure where it is. Ford really screwed up the electrical systems on the gen 4.5 cars. One little thing being even slightly off will make them go bonkers. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
-chart- 287 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 (edited) http://www.taurusowners.com/topic/3717-charts-tips/page-9 See post 172, just modified with a diagram. Any questions just ask. All 3 of my cars have parallel grounds to the fender, I made them with #10 wire and soldered eylets on them. Under the cable bolt and to a different place on the fender. On the same page, pics of my parallel grounding and soldering of my cables. -chart- Edited March 23, 2016 by -chart- Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Rohand901 534 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 http://www.taurusowners.com/topic/3717-charts-tips/page-9 See post 172, just modified with a diagram. Any questions just ask. All 3 of my cars have parallel grounds to the fender, I made them with #10 wire and soldered eylets on them. Under the cable bolt and to a different place on the fender. On the same page, pics of my parallel grounding and soldering of my cables. -chart- whoa, how is this the first time I've seen that thread. Thats amazing, not gonna get any work accomplished today, too busy reading helpful tips and tricks. FWIW, my car has awful voltage problems, exacerbated considerably by the UDP. You are not alone OP Quote Link to post Share on other sites
-chart- 287 Posted March 23, 2016 Report Share Posted March 23, 2016 whoa, how is this the first time I've seen that thread. Thats amazing, not gonna get any work accomplished today, too busy reading helpful tips and tricks. FWIW, my car has awful voltage problems, exacerbated considerably by the UDP. You are not alone OP I am not gonna fix things that are not broken, but, some bent things need fixin. I am paranoid about elect stuff and tires, brakes and such. I did find a really nice Lin Cont cable set at the JY and put it on my wagon. Those cables 2 wires sizes heaver, +~60% capacity on all the wires, That makes adiffererence, but since I drive the '03 wagon and '03 secan, identical cars, I can see the difference in cranking briskness, cold or hot. It is not worth that to do it over for the sedan, but I did solder the crimps and keep the battery no more than 3 years old. Also secondary ground wire. All my crimps soldered, all 3 cars. For me, it is a 'one and done' project not planning to do anythig else. I note things at the JY that seem to show why non wreck cars are there. Pic is one case in point. The battery acid has eaten away the throttle cable and cruise cable. Imagine the cost to fix that at some shop for the average owner. And note there is a reason for the battery plastic shield over the battery, it slips down between the battery and those cables. And the ground cable is maybe batter than average, most are missing the end. Just rotted off. But for most of us here, we do preventive maint. And our cars do not find their way to the JY without wrecked. -chart- Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Angrod 280 Posted March 24, 2016 Report Share Posted March 24, 2016 whoa, how is this the first time I've seen that thread. Thats amazing, not gonna get any work accomplished today, too busy reading helpful tips and tricks. FWIW, my car has awful voltage problems, exacerbated considerably by the UDP. You are not alone OP That's why I had to take my UDP off. Too many electrical issues. Never had any problem with it on the '01 though. Ford changed the entire electrical system in '04 and it all went to hell. I was looking into getting an ODP for my alternator but then I moved and bills ate up all my spare cash. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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